Young author wins prize

August 27, 2009|By Olivia Smith

Recent La Cañada High School graduate Megan Reed held a book signing at the Union Bank of La Cañada Saturday, Aug. 15. Reed’s short story “Angus and the Soccer Tryouts” won first place in the Diverse Minds Youth Writing Challenge.

“I found the scholarship competition on www.fastweb.com,” Reed said. “It seemed like a great way to earn extra money for college.”

Fastweb is a website which features ways to apply for scholarships, financial aid and student loans.

Union Bank, which hosted the book signing, does a lot of work with the printing sponsor B’nai B’rith International. The group is a widely known Jewish humanitarian, human rights and advocacy organization. It promoted the competition on diversity to help combat bigotry by supporting tolerance and equality.

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Children who attended Reed’s signing received a copy of the book and got to meet the author.

“When I found the competition online I instantly thought I wanted to do it. I’ve been involved with art my entire life,” said Reed.

Reed volunteered with children’s art classes last summer at Armory Center in Pasadena.

“The money was a big help for school also,” said Reed.

Reed, who will be attending UC Davis in the fall, was awarded a $5,000 scholarship.

Reed’s book is about a monster named Angus who goes to tryout for a soccer team, the team dislikes Angus because he is different than them and in turn rejects Angus. Angus eventually finds another team which accepts him for being different and the team’s unique set of diverse skills carries them to victory.

“I chose to focus on sports. I tried them and every kid does them,” said Reed.

Reed also visited the Arroyo Vista School and read for a first grade class.

“It’s been so much fun,” said Reed. “It helped with my public speaking which was very rewarding. Overall it really paid off.”